Ambushed Isabela mayor passes away

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – A mayor of one of Isabela’s coastal towns finally succumbed to bullet wounds the other day, after four months in coma following his ambush in Tuguegarao City.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director, said Mayor Francisco Talosig, 58, of Maconacon town, had been kept alive by respirator until his death.

“His death is a big loss to the province, especially to his constituents. We grieve with his family over his loss,” said Vice Gov. Ramon Reyes.

Talosig, together with two of his councilors and a police escort, was on board his Hyundai Grace van when the gunman, armed with a caliber .45 pistol, ambushed him at a busy intersection in Tuguegarao.

Besides politics, probers suspect that Talosig’s being an active crusader against illegal logging and illegal fishing possibly had something to do with his killing. 

There is a P50,000 reward for the arrest of the gunman who, Damian said, has been identified. – Charlie Lagasca